


A Lesson, Interrupted

by lifevolutionary



Series: Kith and Kin [12]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-14
Updated: 2010-08-14
Packaged: 2017-10-11 02:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/107295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifevolutionary/pseuds/lifevolutionary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel was in the middle of trying to persuade Robert to eat without getting the food all over everywhere - yes, Gabriel could clean it up with a snap of his fingers but it was the principle of the thing - when a commotion from the other room caught his attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lesson, Interrupted

**Author's Note:**

> This fic marks the end of Arc 2: Lessons (10,600), if I ever get around to writing Arc 3 it won't be for a while i.e. it won't be until I've gone back to uni for second year and will depend on whether I have the time and inspiration

Gabriel was in the middle of trying to persuade Robert to eat without getting the food all over everywhere - yes, Gabriel could clean it up with a snap of his fingers but it was the principle of the thing - when a commotion from the other room caught his attention.

The other three were in the middle of giving Joanna a rather important hunter lesson. One that Sam would probably call 'Different weapons and what to do when threatened with them' but that Gabriel had privately subtitled in his head 'Why it's a really bad idea to telekinetically bash about a guy pointing a gun at you without getting the gun away from him first'. Gabriel shuddered as he remembered having to snap in and snatch his niece out of the line of fire.

Gabriel cleaned Robert up with a thought as he lifted his son into his arms, then he went to find out what all the surprised yelling followed by ominous silence was all about. What he found turned his world upside down.

The other three were staring at Joanna with varying degrees of shock and worry but their reactions were mild compared to the one that swamped Gabriel and that told him something; that told him that they didn't know what the sword Joanna was cradling in her lap and looking at curiously meant. The mark of a Nephilim; a weapon whose existence had been long debated in the halls of Heaven. A weapon _Gabriel_ had never really believed existed.

"No. No, that can't be, it can't, it's not-" Gabriel didn't notice himself speaking, didn't realise he was babbling until Sam appeared in front of him, gripped his shoulder with one hand and used the other to pull Gabriel's chin up so Sam could look him in the eyes.

"Gabriel, what's going on? Do you know what this is?" Gabriel forced his eyes to refocus on Sam's face now that his gaze had been pulled away from the sword, tried to pull his scattered mind and grace together so he could answer Sam at least semi-coherently.

"The mark of a Nephilim." He said, his voice croaky.

Sam frowned at him and Gabriel could tell when that sunk in and pulled up the right file card from Sammy's fact filled brain; his eyes widened and he let go of Gabriel abruptly. "Enoch." His voice was flat and eyes flicked to Robert. "Gabriel, tell me you didn't-"

That hurt, that hurt because it hit right down in his inner paranoia. The part of him that told him everyday that he didn't deserve this family, this life, didn't deserve Sam and Robert, didn't deserve to be this happy. The part of him that told him that all the things he'd done over the years, all the things he'd done to Sam, should disqualify him from being loved so fiercely.

But there were some things he hadn't done that the damn Bible said he had, things that made him sick to think about it. The murder of the Nephilim was one of them and, dammit, it hurt that Sam could ever consider that it was true.

"No," he growled and tightened his grip on Robert, "No, I would never- I never touched them. _I_ was the one who wanted to stay with them, but we weren't given a choice. Dad was mad, said it wasn't time yet and he ordered us to leave. We didn't have a _choice_, we had to return to Heaven and leave the Nephilim alone, with only the Angels who birthed them, stripped of their grace, for protection." Gabriel was breathing hard and almost yelling by the time he'd finished, pain and anger spilling into his voice.

Sam was staring at him, wide-eyed. Actually, so was everyone else in the room, save Robert who'd fallen asleep – but that wasn't surprising because his ability to sleep through anything was a family joke by now – Cas looked the most shocked, Dean and Joanna looked a bit confused.

"Something else killed them?" Sam asked carefully, Gabriel nodded. "Do you know...?"

Gabriel shock his head, "We never found out, not for sure, just that it was something powerful and Demonic."

"Could it have been Beelzebub, even back then?"

"Maybe." Gabriel shrugged. "Personally I always thought it was Luci having a hissy-fit over Angel stock being 'tainted'." Bitter sarcasm threaded through his voice; as much as he'd loved his brother, he'd also hated him quite a lot sometimes, most of the time.

Sam made a face but whatever he was going to say to that was cut off by Dean interrupting. "Hey, can we get to explaining the bit where my daughter can suddenly conjure up a freaking sword out of thin air?"

Gabriel carefully handed off the sleeping Robert to Sam and went to crouch down beside Joanna, who was holding her sword carefully but tightly; not going to let go any time soon. Gabriel looked up at Dean over her head.

"The Nephilim were the first children of Angels and humans."

Dean frowned and glanced between him and Castiel. "So why doesn't Cas know about this sword stuff?"

"Because they were born and died millennia ago, when Dad was still in charge and before Cas was even fledged." He smirked at Cas' annoyed frown. "That's what comes from being one of the youngest, baby Bro, you miss a lot of the really big family blow ups."

Dean looked back and forth between the two of them again, obviously intrigued but then shook his head, apparently deciding to leave that avenue of inquiry until later. He waved an impatient hand, "And the sword?"

"When the Nephilim were alive it was often rumoured that they had the Angel ability to summon a weapon with which to defend themselves, a unique blade a bit like this," Gabriel pulled his own Archangel's blade out of thin air and twirled it, "Only, you know, different." He tapped it against the blade of Joanna's sword and then vanished his blade while Joanna watched, fascinated. "The rumours were never proved though and I never really believed them." He looked down at the sword resting across his niece's lap, "Well, until now."

"Why didn't you believe?" Sam asked, always the curious one.

"Well, if you had a weapon that awesome, wouldn't you use it to defend yourself against a Demonic threat? And if the kids were too young to summon the weapon and use it, then how did anyone know about it in the first place? It never made sense. It still doesn't, even now I know I was wrong."

"Wow," Dean muttered under his breath, "That's not something we hear every day." Gabriel ignored him, so did Sam but Joanna giggled.

"Maybe they just didn't have the training necessary to defend themselves?" Sam suggested as Gabriel glared and Dean and Joanna grinned at each other.

"Joanna will need to be trained in how to use the weapon." Cas spoke up for the first time, unhappy but strangely determined. Dean looked like he was going to object but Cas cut him off before he could, "It would be powerful protection."

"She also needs to learn how to control when she summons it or school is going to be a problem." Sam said calmly, with a slightly distracted air and then looked confused when it made them all stare at him, the pole-axed expression on Dean's face one of the best Gabriel had ever seen. Sam frowned. "You guys did realise she's almost ready for school, right? She's nearly five, she should be starting kindergarten in September."

Gabriel loved Sam a lot in that moment because the chaos that declaration caused was seriously, amazingly fun to watch.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Lesson, Interrupted [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10169537) by [Tbowen71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tbowen71/pseuds/Tbowen71)




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